Chasca
by Lywnna
Summary: Kaidan and Shepard had discussed shore leave, and may have found the perfect location for it.  A Shenko oneshot.


_In Mass Effect 1, Chasca is a beautiful planet in the Maroon Sea, Matano System. You land there to take care of some Thorian Creepers that have taken over a civilian colony. If you visit all the points of interest on the map, you'll have to take a long, difficult climb up a very steep mountain to get to a secluded plateau with a prothean ruin and an abandoned prefab building. If you've never taken the time to go there, you should, the view is breathtaking. It's one of my favorite locations in the game.  
_

* * *

"Glad you'll be here when it's over, Shepard. I'm, uh.. I'm looking forward to some shore leave."

"So am I. I'll let you get back to work. We'll talk later, Kaidan."

"I'd like that."

* * *

"What's the name of this place again?" Garrus asked, yelling over the sound of grinding tires on stone.

"Chasca, Garrus. And by the sound of your voice if you had skin like a human you'd be white as a sheet."

"Shepard, we're two thousand feet in the air clinging to an eighty degree cliff face with winds throwing us around enough that we're likely to tumble back down this rock any second now."

Kaidan's voice interrupted the turian's tirade. "Commander, I think you need to drop a few feet and bank hard left. It looks like the Mako's tires will catch onto that outcropping and we'll make it over the top."

"Remind me why we're exploring way up here when the Civilian structures we landed here for are a mile away and down on safe, level ground?" Shepard ground her teeth together at the turian's questioning even as she was busy trying to keep the Mako on the mountain they were currently having difficulty scaling.

"Interesting anomaly, pyramid maybe… prothean… damn! I think we're stuck."

"You may have to have to hit the booster, Shepard." Kaidan said. "Just a little, don't send us too far back."

"Dampening field will catch us; it'll just be a long trip down if we miss." Shepard replied. "Ready Kaidan? Just a tap…"

It sounded like Garrus was about to protest, but before he could the Mako jumped backward, free falling for just a second before landing a dozen or two feet farther down the cliff face, tires digging in as Shepard accelerated. Finally finding the traction they needed, Shepard banked hard left to the path Kaidan had pointed out earlier. She accelerated and found the right leverage to carefully send the Mako over the top of the mountain they were on.

As the Mako tipped forward, quietly Shepard and Kaidan both murmured "Wow." The view in front of them was breathtaking.

"Commander, is something wrong? Why are we stopped?" Shepard realized that from the backseat, Garrus couldn't see what they were seeing.

"Nothing, Garrus. Just admiring the view. We're almost to the ruins, just down the mountain a little bit…" Shepard's voice trailed off as she concentrated on controlling the vehicle, guiding it's slide downwards. It wasn't long until they were parked on level ground.

Just in front of them was a tall prothean pyramid. Next to it, someone had placed a small prefabricated building; just enough for two scientists to study here for an extended amount of time, but no one seemed to be here now. Both were positioned on a small, level outcropping on the mountain. As they exited the Mako, Shepard noted the grass under their feet was plush and soft, but most of her attention was fixated in front of her.

They were still incredibly high up, and from here the view stretched for miles. Far below them were rolling hills, some smaller mountains and plateaus, lush grassland and maybe in the distance, a river. The sky above was lit up like a colossal rainbow from the artificial rings of the planet, and the air around them carried shimmering flowers that never seemed to land, but rather danced through the breeze endlessly.

"It's beautiful." Shepard heard Kaidan say, and realized she was so overwhelmed by the view, she hadn't heard him walk around the Mako to come to stand next to her. He was close enough that his arm was pressed against hers, though through both of their armors, it wasn't quite physical contact.

"It is, it's perfect, Kaidan."

"Commander, you should come look at this." Garrus called from the vicinity of the prefab. Shepard glanced at Kaidan, who returned the look. Just a few minutes alone with Kaidan here, that's all she wanted. Garrus was doing his job, he was a damn fine teammate, but right now, Shepard wished she would have left him back on the Normandy.

"There are a lot of good supplies here, Shepard. Should Kaidan and I inventory what's left? It looks like no one has inhabited this place in quite some time."

"Why don't you take care of that, Garrus? I'm going to need Alenko to help me at the top of the pyramid, I'll need his tech skills to open whatever cache might be up there. Lieutenant, with me please?"

"Aye aye ma'am." Kaidan replied, and as Garrus began pulling supplies out of crates in the structure, the two humans made their way to the pinnacle of the small prothean ruin.

After a brief but tiring climb, Kaidan kneeled and began to manipulate the top plate of the building. They'd found similar spaces on the top of other prothean ruins, usually just finding what Shepard considered junk, but Liara would be delighted with each piece, and that kept her busy and away from asking Shepard prying questions. Shepard enjoyed watching Kaidan's hands move with expert skill and his brow furrow in concentration as he figured out how to open the tiny door he had found. It was only a short moment before Kaidan mumbled "Jackpot" under his breath and begin placing items from the cache into the pack he carried.

"Did we get anything good?" Shepard asked, carefully sitting down so she was looking out at the impressive view.

"Looks to be a couple of toys. Another of these things Dr. Tsoni thinks might be data discs. Lots of fibers of what may have been clothes at one point… a few other things"

"Well, take it all, it'll keep Liara occupied. Then come sit with me to uh… catch our breaths after that climb up here." She craned her head to watch Kaidan, now working with a small smile on his face as he placed the last few items into his satchel, and then carefully moved to sit next to her. There wasn't much space on this step, so in order for both of them to fit, it was a tight squeeze.

They sat in comfortable silence for a time, just watching the floating puffs in the air and the view that stretched out before them. The sun never set on this half of Chasca, but it seemed to always be that time of day an hour or so before dusk started to settle in. These things, along with the streaks in the sky from the rings around the planet, gave everything a hazy, dreamy quality, and made the setting even more perfect.

Kaidan leaned back, and to make room for both of their shoulders, slipped his arm behind Shepard, not quite holding her waist, but his hand touching what would be the small of her back were it not for armor and gloves in the way. Shepard subtly leaned towards him so their shoulders overlapped. It took a few minutes for either of them to speak, though Shepard was pretty sure they were thinking the same thing.

"I wish we could just stay here." Shepard finally spoke "Just take a couple of days off from all this madness. From geth and thorian and mercs…"

"Bring some supplies, couple of changes of clothes…." Kaidan continued.

"Sit here and watch this view for hours."

"Wake up and drink some coffee, talk, and not worry about a damn thing. Sleep when we got tired…"

"Or… got tired out?" Shepard dared a glance at Kaidan, and noticed a slight color in his cheeks as he glanced back at her, his lips upturned in that small smile she loved so much. She couldn't help but smile back at him.

"Commander! I've finished the inventory of supplies." Garrus was now standing at the bottom of the pyramid, looking up at them expectantly.

Shepard sighed, but signaled to Garrus that she'd heard him. "Looks like we'll have to put that thought on hold, Kaidan. Hopefully not for long. When all this is over, we'll be due for that shore leave you were talking about the other day."

They looked at each other again, only their eyes betraying the thoughts they were sharing. "Looking forward to it, ma'am." He said, quietly. After a moment, Kaidan stood up and offered Shepard his hand. As she stood she called down to Garrus. "We're coming, just taking a quick break. Lock up the prefab, we're heading to those civilian structures now."

* * *

Shepard cursed as she hit the boosters on the Hammerhead again. Somehow, this had seemed easier in the Mako. She took it slow, booster then thruster, adjust, booster then thruster. A few dozen more feet and she'd be at the top of this mountain again.

She had no idea what she'd find on the other side. Shepard had heard Emily Wong give a news report that the recolonization efforts on Chasca were going well. It was highly possible that someone had claimed the area as their own, or there were scientists living in the prefab now, studying the ruins. What Shepard did know was that she needed a few days to be alone and think, to plot their next move now that they'd taken care of the collector problem but didn't have the resources of Cerberus anymore. She'd allowed the crew some time off, though Joker and a few others were still above in the Normandy. Right now, this is where she wanted to be. It wasn't the shore leave she'd planned on taking over three years ago (or just over one year, as Shepard counted time), but she couldn't think of anywhere else to go that would offer her the quiet solitude she desired.

She had once vowed she wouldn't come here without Kaidan, but she hadn't heard from him since the e-mail he'd sent. She'd responded, trying to explain what she was doing, without saying too much, but she didn't know if he'd received her mail or not. That had been months ago, months with no communication, no idea if he'd accepted her apology as she'd accepted his. No word as to what would happen when "all of this is over." As much as Shepard wanted to say that Kaidan Alenko was the least of her worries when trillions of lives rested on her shoulders, his was the one single life that mattered to her most.

As she topped the mountain and guided the hammerhead towards her destination, Shepard could see both the pyramid and living quarters were intact and looked to still be in good repair. At first it didn't look like anyone was there, and she was relieved, but when she got closer she saw a small, one-man craft parked behind the rectangular prefab.

Aware that the hammerhead could use a few repairs from the very bumpy trip up, she decided to stop there anyway, hoping that whoever was occupying the building would be friendly. Shepard guided the hammerhead down to the plateau and parked it next to the building. As she drove past, she saw the door open, but hadn't seen who was coming outside. She checked that her hand cannon was loaded, hooked it casually on her hip and stepped out of her vehicle, on high alert just in case the resident wasn't as friendly as she was.

Shepard walked around the hammerhead and put a smile on her face, ready to charm the prefab's occupant. Instead, she stopped dead in her tracks. Leaning against the doorway, arms crossed over his chest, was a tall, dark haired, olive skinned man… a man with perfectly pointed eyebrows and thick full lips, wearing an Alliance issue T-shirt and blue jeans.

"It's about time you showed up." he said, a half-smile forming on his lips. "I just put some coffee on. I think we're overdue for that shore leave."


End file.
